Melissa stepped back and allowed Andrew to enter the room. "Please, Leftenant, be seated." Her frosty tone mocked the invitation of her words. The door clicked shut behind the MechWarrior.

Melissa pointed to a small refrigerator. "May I offer you something?"

Andrew shook his head. "No, thank you." Looking up, he met her hard stare. "I realize that you did not like what I said last night, and I apologize for any embarrassment I caused by walking out. I have already apologized to the Mahlers."

Melissa snorted and narrowed her eyes. "I'm glad to see that you have somemanners, Leftenant!" Her tone scourged him with his rank, and he recoiled unconsciously. "I assume that Federated Suns officers do not become irredeemably insolent until they reach their Captaincy."

Muscles bunched at Andrew's jaws. "Yes, I suppose I have that coming, but I don't like the veiled suggestion that I will never have my chance at a Captaincy, Miss Barker. You may think that I treated you in a manner not appropriate to your station, and you may resent it, but I'll not be punished for it."

He threw his hands up in the air and growled, "I came here to apologize, and you make it impossible!"

Despite the contact lenses, Melissa's eyes blazed. "Impossible? Youare impossible. How do you expect me to react when you lecture me on how a ruler should deal with subjects! Such arrogance! You used the fact that Miss Barker could not defend against or refute such an attack. Yes, I resent that."

Andrew closed his eyes and nodded. He forced his body to relax. "Yes, you're right." He shook his head and wandered over to her couch. Sitting down heavily, he then leaned forward with elbows on his knees and hands clasped together. "You just don't know how it feels."

"How what feels, Andrew?" Melissa crossed to the sofa and sat beside him. She heard the pain in his voice and it melted her own anger.

Andrew's adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed. "I revered Justin Allard. I could not have hoped for a better commanding officer, and I did my best to break through the prejudice the Kittery cadets had toward a man with Capellan blood in him. Even when he discharged Sergeant Capet, I defended him against all comers."

Andrew turned and Melissa saw tears gathering in his eyes. "When the Capellans ambushed us, I didn't know what to do. I wanted to relinquish control to Justin, but he gave me command. He didn't say anything, but I heard the confidence in voice. He knew I'd not let him down, and I fought desperately to be worthy of that trust. I pushed my men and organized them. Somehow, we got out of a very nasty situation much better than we should have." Redburn turned away and stared at his clenched hands.

Melissa reached out and touched him on the shoulder, and she could feel the tension rippling through him. She bit her lower lip, but could do nothing but listen.

Andrew never noticed her touch. "I remember seeing the ruins of his Valkyrieand how torn I felt when I found out that he'd lost his arm. I knew, right then ... I had a feeling . . . that his life would be different. Then the trial, and all that viciousness. Somehow it got to him.

"I watched a video of Justin's fight against Wolfson just after we jumped to Summer," Andrew said softly. "I heard him denounce Hanse Davion. I ... I couldn't believe it, but now I think I understand it all better, I'm sorry."

He shook his head, "I wonder if I ever knew Justin at all..."

Melissa rubbed her hands across Andrew's neck. "It sounds as though you knew him well. But that trial left its mark on him. People can change, you know." She bit off the words as though they were bitter in her mouth. "I just hope it doesn't always have to be a change for the worse."

Andrew, frowning, looked at her. "I don't understand."

Melissa moved to the center of her cabin, which put her back to him. She hugged her own arms around herself as that same mocking laughter seemed to echo at her from the void. "There was once a time when I would have challenged my elders to justify how they'd wielded their power, much as you did the other night. Some considered me foolish, and others thought I was merely an argumentative child. The worst, like Aldo Lestrade, patronized me, which I hated. I vowed to bend him and those like him to my will because I was destined to be Archon."

She turned slowly. "Ruling, you see, was presented to me much as a game. Yes, they gave me lessons to study and Thelos Auburn steeped me in history. I know more boring facts about the Lyran Commonwealth than anyone should be cursed to remember. Yet, despite all that, I amthe Archon-Designate."

She smiled at Andrew's puzzlement. "I could get away with anything. Courtiers I could not charm were courtiers I could terrorize. I learned, as a wee child, to win with smiles, or to take with an imperious demand. In short, I learned that the Archon-Designate always wins—only sometimes the tactics must be brutal."

Andrew shook his head. "You must have outgrown that, though."

Melissa shrugged, still holding her shoulders with arms crossed over her chest. "Have I? Perhaps . . . It's true that on an intellectual level, I have learned what it means to rule. Even so, my lessons in power have been rather academic. I cannot fault my teachers, for there is really no good way to teach the use of power. Let's take an example. Your company, perhaps, is being pursued by an overwhelming force. You can outdistance them, but the leg actuator on one of your unit's 'Mechs goes out. Both the pilot and his machine will die unless you turn your command around to defend him. You might be able to draw pursuit away from one warrior, but others in your command will die. What should you do?"

Andrew considered the question for a moment, then nodded. "I would have to leave the one man behind and save my command."

Melissa smiled. "The greatest good for the greatest number." She shook her head sadly and looked down. "We comfort ourselves that the man will die painlessly and perhaps even sell himself dearly to earn you extra time. The fact is, though, that he will not die painlessly. Your Justin Xiang did not."

She raised a hand to forestall Andrew's comment. "Just as you came to apologize for what you had said, I, too, must apologize. You correctly protest against the pain that your friend suffered, and I tried to defend his suffering as a necessary action. Neither of us can alleviate his anguish, and we feel the guilt of that." She smiled sheepishly. "If I thought a pardon would make him whole again, I would ask the Prince to do it."

Andrew nodded, then paused as he thought deeply about all that had happened since that day on Kittery. "I appreciate that, your Highness, but after seeing that tape, I fear that Justin is now lost to us forever."

BOOK 3

40

Solaris VII (The Game World)

Rahneshire, Lyran Commonwealth

6 May 3027

The click of the pistol's hammer being eared back was loud enough to rouse Justin from his slumber. Turning over groggily, he lifted his head to squint at Tsen Shang. Silhouetted against the light of the desk lamp, the Maskirovka agent looked as dark as his clothes. The only light glinted off the pistol's long barrel.

Justin tipped a pillow up and eased himself into a sitting position against the headboard. He raised his left hand to shield his eyes from the lamp's strong stare, and smiled. "You can put the gun away."